Here's some more, maybe showing some progression...
Click on thumbnails for a larger picture....
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| 1980 (High School) | About 1992 | 315! |
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| 1997 | Me, oil and a camera... |
I suffered a ruptured disk L4-L5 in 1987 due to degenerative disk disease. I finally had surgery in 1989 to relieve the pain. Minor setback!
In 1997 I separated my shoulder shooting prone position. I didn't know it at the time, I just thought it was a big bruise (from the top of my shoulder to below my right pec!) The surgeon said that I would need surgery eventually, but, to live with it as long as I could. So I live with it. The separation itself causes no pain to speak of but there is also a pinched nerve that inhibits my range of motion.
In 2001 I was diagnosed with another ruptured disk at C6-7 causing complete loss of strength in my right arm and numbness in my fingers. The two vertibrae were drilled and fused with a cadaver bone and a titanium plate was screwed in place to fix the problem in May 2002, called an "Anterior Discectomy and Fusion."
My head is screwed on right!
I still chose to actively exercise, if I didn't - my accumulated injuries would have caused me to stiffen up pretty bad. Body building has never of itself caused any injury and I could point out several times it has prevented injuries through increased strength and flexibility!
Sadly L4-L5 herniated again some time after the original surgery and has caused some long term problems. In 2006 I had to give up lifting weights and in 2008 the problem was finally diagnosed. In February I submitted to the necessary surgery.
The damage the doctor found was the result of a long term compression of the spinal chord.
Bummer. I felt great while I was in the hospital, logically with all that pressure removed and I started getting hopeful that some of my long term numbness might miraculously heal. After being home for only a few days my right foot went dead. I mean cold and I couldn't move it at all. They call this "drop foot parallysis." The doctor took one look at me in the follow-up and said, "MRI, now! We'll get you in." They did, in less than 45 minutes! He called me the next day and said to report to the Emergency Room the next morning and have them page him. The disk had re-herniated again! This time there was no question but to fuse the vertibrae. Both the Orthopedic and a Neurosurgeon (the same one that worked on my neck) worked on my back this time. They found a piece of vertebra in the disk material this time and he said that the vertebra was "falling apart."
Two rods and four more screws.
I am five months into the recovery from this last (I hope!) surgery but I am not feeling well. I still have very little strength in my right foot and I have constant pins & needles and sometimes it feels like someone is pouring ice water down my leg.
Time will tell what I will be able to do to stay active. For now I try to walk around the RV park at least once a day when I am feeling up to it.
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